


Are You Mad Albus

by WritingRenegade



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Dumbledore makes dark wizards, Gen, Philosophy will conqure the world, or at least the wizarding part of it
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-15
Updated: 2016-12-15
Packaged: 2018-09-08 17:13:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,195
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8853508
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WritingRenegade/pseuds/WritingRenegade
Summary: A grin split over Albus face, “But that’s the thing Gellert, like any good philosophy this one sounds quite mad until you dig a little deeper, then the deeper you dig the saner it sounds.”With a roll of his eyes Gellert ground, “You do know that doesn’t actually make it sane, right?"





	

“Are you mad Albus?”

Albus looked at his friend in confusion, his tumbler of Firewhisky paused half-way to his mouth “What? Of course not Gellert. But we’ve been pondering on ways to destroy the wizarding world for months now and the only thing we’ve learned is that any plan made to destroy our way of life is convoluted and unwieldy.” Albus leaned in towards his friend, a strange intensity in his eyes, “But I think this might actually work. And it’s downright elegant in its simplicity.”

“Simplicity?” Gellert looked as if he couldn’t decide between laughter of incredulity. “How would outing the Wizarding world to muggles bring anything but chaos? Simplicity? That action seems more likely to destroy the world in general rather than just the wizarding part of it. Simplicity in deed!” Gellert slumped into the back of his chair his arms crossed in what seemed to be disgust.

With a sigh Albus set his drink down on the coffee table resting between him and his friend, knowing from embarrassing experience that in a moment they’d be buried deeply enough in a debate that he wouldn’t be aware of his wild gesticulations until his drink spilled, probably all over him. “I honestly don’t believe so Gellert. I believe that if we followed this course of action the wizarding world would fall, even if there were an outbreak of war between wizard-kind and muggles—which I dearly hope could be avoided—I believe muggles would be the victors.”

Gellert shook his head with a sigh, “Now I know you’re going ‘round the bend. In what sane world could a muggle, or even a group of them, hope to take down a single wizard let alone the whole bloody lot of us?”

“I know it sounds mad, but listen to my reasoning…You know I’ve recently had a fascination in finding out more of how magic works?”

An eyebrow quirked, “yes” Gellert drawled.

A small smile stole across Albus’ face as a passion ignited in his eyes, “Well I think I’ve discovered the answer, or part of it at least. And in doing so I think I’ve learned the real reason magicals separated from muggles so long ago.”

“This would be…”

“While perusing Flammel’s library I discovered a book by a philosopher of magic who took on the unoriginal pen name of the Sorcerer’s Apprentice.” They both took a moment to shake their heads in disdain, “I nearly put it back upon the shelf without cracking the cover...but something about the book pulled at me Gellert, so I opened it to skim, and, to my surprise, found ideas on theorems that were centuries ahead of their time, theories that have since been tested and proven true in a myriad of ways. One of the theorems in his book was so outlandish that I found myself unable to forget it.”

“And I’m guessing this outlandish theory is the reason you currently seem to have lost your mind?”

A bit of the fiery light in Albus' eyes died in the wake of Gellert’s seeming disdain and was replaced with some disdain of his own, “Really Gellert, I’m perfectly sane, calling me mad—honestly. But as I was saying, the outlandish theorem.” Albus paused to clear his throat, “This philosopher believed that magic was fueled by disbelief. That the disbelief in those with no magical talent somehow fueled the magical ability of those with the talent to even greater heights.”

Gellert’s crossed arms dropped, as did his jaw, “W-what?”

“Shocking is it not?”

“More than shocking,” Gellert straightened in his chair, “Whatever would cause you to consider a theory that so thoroughly defies logic?”

A grin split over Albus face, “But that’s the thing Gellert, like any good philosophy this one sounds quite mad until you dig a little deeper, then the deeper you dig the saner it sounds.”

With a roll of his eyes Gellert ground, “You do know that doesn’t actually make it sane, right? And certainly not scientifically sound.”

“I know, and believe me I’m been wrestling with this theory for ages, but the more I think about it, the more reasonable it seems.”

“That’s called desensitization Albus, not generally the best way to claim validity.”

With a near-defeated shake of his head Albus spoke, “Just, just hear out the rest of what the philosopher had to say, then you can decide.”

“Very well, I’ll listen with as open a mind as I’m able.” Gellert swept a hand towards Albus non-verbally telling him to proceed.

“Right, well the philosopher used the metaphor of a berserker state to make his point. He compared magic to a living entity, one that can only survive by being used. With this entity, the fewer who use it, the closer it comes to extinction, so to survive it would have to give its full strength to those few who believe in it and, therefore, use it. This would allow it to keep them alive and prove its own existence which would no doubt increase the chances of it continuing to be used. So, the fewer there are who believe in magic the harder magic fights to ensure its survival.”

“An odd theory, but it doesn’t track, the magic must have belief to be used.”

“Ah,” Albus held up a finger, “The belief of some.”

Pursing his lips Gellert asked, “Then why not be grandiose all the time, cause belief in all. Surely that would be a better means of survival than curtailing influence to a small group.”

“I—I don’t know, perhaps there’s only so much magic to go around. A very large amount to be sure, but it does seem that the larger our community grows the weaker each individual gets. Have you not noticed?”

“Noticed? Magic getting weaker? Can’t say I’ve paid much attention to the strength levels of the rising generation.”

“Well I have the occupational advantage of going into teaching I suppose. Even though I haven’t been at this for long yet, I’ve still seen a difference in magical strength between the first years and the seventh years. I can’t help but wonder whether the trend will continue.”

“Are you…Are you sure the little ones are actually weaker and not just seemingly weaker because they are untried?”

“Oh yes, quite. I can’t help but wonder if it’s because magic is finite.”

Gellert sat back with a vaguely dazed look on his face, “Terrifying thought. But the children being weaker isn’t your only proof, there could be all manner of explanations for that surely?”

Albus grinned “It’s true there could be, but I only started paying attention to the declining magic levels after I went through a Merlin phase.”

Eyebrow inching upward Gellert couldn’t help but ask, “A Merlin phase?”

“Yes a phase where I found all things Merlin utterly fascinating. I ended up spending several months digging deeply into Merlin.”

“And how did this fascination lead you to your belief that magic is finite?”

Arms swinging in animation, Albus said, “Well I started to notice a trend. Even though practically everyone in Merlin’s time believed in magic—which rather casts doubt on magic being fueled by disbelief, at least directly—very few people actually practiced magic. And what few did, were quickly executed in the purges that happened before King Arthur rose to power. Eventually Merlin and Morgan Le Fey rose as the most powerful magicals to have ever existed. As I studied this time in depth I kept questioning how Merlin and Morgan Le Fey could have become so powerful as to almost be godlike to us average wizards. There’s never been anyone else who’s come close…” Albus seemed to drift off into deeper thoughts.

With a roll of his eyes Gellert attempted to bring Albus back down to earth “So I’m guessing you’re saying that Merlin and Morgan Le Fey were so powerful because they were the only magicals left for this finite magic to go into? But it doesn’t work that way Albus. Everyone knows the level magic a person is born with is what they’ve got.”

Albus nearly jumped from his seat in excitement as he made a connection. “Ah but that’s where the Berserker state comes in! Magic wants to live, and it can only live by being used. So if its used, and, by consequence, it comes close to dying it will throw pretty much everything it’s got into those magic users left in order to survive. Which might explain why blood purity remains such an issue in the magical world. Every muggle-born magical means less magic for a pure-born magical. There might be an instinct bred into purebloods to recognize muggle-borns as a parasite that must be destroyed to ensure that purebloods maintain peak power. So, in a way, muggle-born children are an actual threat to magic, or at least the purebloods symbiotic relationship with it. Is it any wonder then that the drive for blood purity exists? I almost understand Salazar Slytherin’s reasoning now. Unacceptable as it remains.”

Gellert slouched deeper into his chair and thought back over everything Albus had said before shaking his head, “I don’t know Albus. It’s intriguing I’ll grant you, but it seems awfully thin.”

With an indrawn breath Albus gave a hesitant nod, “It, it is. It will certainly need more study and even experiments done to prove it. But, for the purpose of this thought exercise, I thought it was valid enough to consider.”

“Yes I’m sure someday a dark wizard will put together this breadcrumb trail and decide to destroy the wizarding world by telling the muggles about magicals and thereby negating the power of magic. There’s a glaring problem with your theory, though.”

With a self deprecating smile Albus asked “Only one?”

“One _glaring_ problem. Dark Lords are more than usually power mad, they also tend to be impatient. If they weakened magic by spreading it thin they would be weakened to. And it would take decades for the magical world to become weak enough to make it viable to topple.”

“Oh…” it was Albus’ turn to slump in his chair, “I hadn’t thought of that.” He brought a hand up to rub his chin, “Well we were supposed to think outside the box.”

Gellert laughed, “You certainly did that my friend.” He picked up his tumbler of Firewhisky and held it towards Albus, “To intriguing philosophical discussions, and may a dark lord never figure out how to get past these loopholes.”

With a half grin Albus lifted his glass and softly clinked it against Gellert’s “Here, here.”

.

.

Albus came out of the dizzying apparition and fell on his face. Panting for breath he clumsily rolled to his feet and faced Grindlewald. “Why are you doing this Gellert!? What possible advantage could you get from outing the magical world.”

Grindlewald tried to dust himself off, “Isn’t it obvious? I mean it was your plan.”

His breath froze and Albus felt his indignation sputter, “What?”

“Come now Albus, you’re far too young to be going senile. Don’t you remember all the wonderful philosophical discussions we had on the best ways to tear down the magical world? I particularly liked the one where you taught me the true nature of magic.”

A spark of recognition flickered in Albus eyes, “You mean my daft theory about finite magic. You yourself pointed out how full of holes it was.”

“But I’ve filled the holes and now I’m using it to my advantage.”

Albus shook his head in silent disbelief. _Where had this nightmare come from?_

Grindlewald looked down at the wand he was slowly rolling in his fingers, “You know your plan is brilliant. So beautifully simple.” He looked up. “The hardest part was figuring out how to hold onto my power while magic was spread thinner and thinner.” He lifted his wand slightly, “Then I found this—the Elder Wand.”

Eyes wide Albus stared with wonder at the short piece of wood, “That wand is a myth.”

“So are wizards. Until you look hard enough.”

“Gellert that wand may be powerful, but it won’t stop your magic from being drained. None of the legends mention anything like that.”

“Oh sure I’ll get weaker for a little while.” Grindlewald shrugged, “But this wand will ensure that I’m the strongest wizard alive. It will ensure that I survive the purges. And then when magic is desperate it will all come surging into me and I’ll be the next Merlin, the next god of magic.” 

_Is this what my friend has become?_ Albus couldn’t seem to stop shaking his head. Maybe if he shook it enough the world would somehow right itself “Are you mad Gellert?”

Grindlewald smirked, “No. I’m brilliant, and when you’re dead and gone along with all the other tiny little wizards, I’ll make sure the world remembers you. Albus Dumbledore, maker of Dark Lords—eaten by his own creations.”

 _My friend is gone._ Blue eyes hardened into glimmering diamond “Not if I can help it.” Albus readied his wand. He would never be the maker of Dark Lords, but their destroyer. He would fight darkness even to his dying breath.

**Author's Note:**

> Yep...a four page discussion of barely thougtout philosophical theories on magic. Hope y'all liked it. :)


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